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Researchers at the U.K.'s Natural Environment Research Council published a study indicating that adding charcoal to a plot of land before planting bioenergy crops reduces carbon emissions from that plot by about one-third over the long run. "We've shown that adding biochar suppresses [carbon dioxide] emissions very significantly over several years," adding to the benefits of bioenergy crops, said the lead author of the study.

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The International Energy Agency recently reported that wind power could account for 18% of the world's electricity supply by 2050, a significant jump from its current 2.6%, if annual investments in the sector would increase from $80 billion to $150 billion. "While world leaders pay lip service to combating climate change, what they are actually doing is subsidizing [carbon dioxide] emissions to the tune of [$110 per 1.1 tons]," said Steve Sawyer, secretary general for the Global Wind Energy Council.

International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol defended Canada's oil sands at a U.N. summit this week, saying that coal-fired electricity, over-consumption of oil and inefficient energy practices are the main culprits in global warming. "The oil sands definitely makes a contribution to the increase in [carbon dioxide] emissions. But the difference in getting oil from oil sands when compared to conventional oil, it is such a small contribution that it will be definitely wrong to highlight this as a major source of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide," Birol said.

Biochar, a kind of charcoal, has the potential to lock away atmospheric carbon in the soil and simultaneously making arable land more fertile and productive, experts say. The process has been called "coal mining in reverse."

Colorado State University will get a total of $1.29 million from industry groups and natural gas companies for a natural gas emissions study. Methane emissions from natural gas transmission lines will be covered by the review, although it won't disclose specific emissions data. "Natural gas can be a reduced [carbon dioxide] solution if done right; but if there's excessive leakage, it takes away a lot of the potential benefits," said Bryan Willson, a mechanical engineering professor at CSU who is heading the study.

Increased carbon dioxide emissions around the world has pushed the concentration of gas in the atmosphere to 400 parts per million. That's the highest it has been in human history, and with the continued use of coal, oil and natural gas, scientists expect it to accelerate. "[B]arring a virtually impossible immediate turn away from fossil fuels, [carbon dioxide] emissions will keep growing globally, and [carbon dioxide] concentrations will keep rising," writes Bryan Walsh of Time magazine.